Educational Thinking — Musings on systems and change
- Quote: I think it’s the same in our classrooms. Experienced teachers know
dozens of techniques for relating to students and constructing learning
environments that are still very valuable. Some of these techniques
will change when teachers move to a read/write environment, but some
will not. The key is that the knowledge of how to use the read/write
web will suddenly present them with a whole host of possibilities that
seemed impossible before. People who only knew how to walk, now know
how to drive. –Rob MancabelliNote: Finally, my good friend and colleague Rob Mancabelli has started his blog. I’ve learned volumes from Rob over the last four years…he is a serious and intelligent thinker on issues related to education, learning and technology. Subscribed!
– post by willrich
blog of proximal development » Blog Archive » Passion-Based Learning
- Quote: And yet, I really don’t see that passion around me. My colleagues seem
to be concerned with outcomes and expectations, not the passion that
they can awaken in their students. Many K-12 students also seem to be
going through the motions and “playing school.†Yes – I know – there
are teachers who engage students by giving them opportunities to make
podcasts or use their blogs to connect with peers from all around the
globe. I’m one of those teachers. However, I think it’s time to
acknowledge that just because students make podcasts or contribute to
blogs does not mean that they have become passionate about the topic
they’re researching. If a teacher says, “I’d like you to create a
podcast to share your work,†students will do it. In fact, they will
even show a lot of enthusiasm because the project takes them out of
their seats and often even out of their classroom. Are they really
working on something that they are passionate about? Rarely.Note: Amazing post by KKonrad Glogowski, one that captures so well the idea of passion based teaching as well as learning. Unfortunately, I think this may be a bigger roadblock to change than we are willing to admit. Read the whole thing.
– post by willrich
How as campuses can we develop that sense of vision and mission, one that our campus collectively believes in and endorses about why we do school?
How can we tap into that passion that brought us into teaching in the first place?
How can we share that passion with our students?
How do we help students find their passion? It seems to me many of them don’t associate that with school, necessarily, after elementary school. Too often school seems like the “coal mine” of what they “have” to do, not what they feel enthusiastic and passionately engaged by.
Can we make things more student driven but still have a defined curriculum?
And how do teachers stay inspired, refreshed and renewed enough to continue to share their own passion?
And how do you do all that in an existing campus?
Glogowki’s post raises many important questions to consider.
Gary Stager’s recent post in Pulse backs up Will is saying–change will be harder than we think. Why? Just look Milgram’s obedience experiments. He figured it out. You can break any social dynamic down to power relationships. In his case he looked at the teacher/student/expert dynamic. That simple triad is at the heart of all that is wrong, all that stands in the way. So…otherwise decent people do what they are told and in the process lose their souls. How often have you seen it happen disguised by the innocuous, self-blaming term “burnout”. Stager makes an ugly but appropriate analogy between the electroshock used in Milgram’s experiment and the whole body shock of high stakes testing in NCLB. But NCLB is just the whipping boy here. Hidden behind this is deeper, structural problem of one way power in schools. What would I prefer? Two way exchanges of power. I would call that authority, not power.
Am I splitting hairs? Not from my personal experience in 8-12 and at the university level. In my classes I have always been criticized by administrators for not having enough emotional distance, for not grading hard enough and for advocating for students. The reason I have done this is because I reject as much as is practicable the notion that I have power over my students. The system mitigates against my credo. The system is the roadblock. In a sick system everyone is sick. Power corrupts, authority makes whole.